Star Trek: Starfleet Academy - David vs. Goliath
by James Greenwood
Summary: This short story shows my take on a new version of the infamous Kobayashi Maru simulation. Fighting old Klingon D7's just wouldn't cut it during the DS9 timeline... ;)


I was bored, so I decided to write a little story depicting... well, just read it. I wanted to see how well I could do battle scenes, which are, in my opinion extremely important in grabbing attention (although not pivotal). I would be grateful for any comments/suggestions to amendments. I've been told that I seem to have trouble with changing the narrative too often, so I decided to keep the number of possible targets to a minimum. Let me know what you think [pic] The Ulysses Class fighter spiralled out of control as a second shower of disruptor fire rained down upon her, moving on inertia and manoeuvring thrusters.  
  
'COMPUTER, REPORT!' screamed Alexandria Forbes through the gas venting from a ruptured supply module in the cramped cockpit as she unsuccessfully tried to fumble her way back to her seat.  
  
'Shields down to 69 percent; phasers charging.'  
  
'Status of enemy vessel?' Forbes said, her voice more composed as she secured herself into her seat.  
  
'Shields stand at 12 percent; all primary weapons systems operational.' Thank God for the Kobayashi Maru, thought Forbes, thinking of her fighters' lifeless Akira Class mother ship floating dead in the water about 100 kilometres to her port bow. Forbes rapidly ran her fingers over the controls in swift, fluid motions. She was a quick study, and had managed to memorise the fighter controls in the short period of time she'd had.  
  
'Come on, Alex, you need a plan!' Forbes almost shouted to herself, trying to ignore the vivid green hull she was scraping her tiny fighter past. That's it. 'Computer, initiate defensive manoeuvre omega-4.'  
  
The computer gave a bleep of acknowledgement and the fighter gave out a sudden burst of speed, dodging several disruptor beams that whined past the fighter as it rolled and yawed just out of reach. The computer's autopilot gave Forbes enough time to switch to tactical and lock phasers and fire on the one disruptor array on the hull of the D'deridex Class warbird currently able to destroy her tiny craft. The array erupted in a burst of orange flame, leaving scarring on the outer hull of the Romulan ship. Forbes beamed to herself in triumph. Well, it got me some more time, at least. - Commander Verek sat in the command chair of his warbird, the Storm Petrel. The bridge was, as with all Romulan ships, startlingly grey, although it's usual straight lines and flat bulkheads were distinctly marred by the fallen plates that lay bent and twisted out of shape across the floor, and by the burns made by venting plasma as the Federation Starship threw their entire arsenal at them. At least that threat has been neutralised. 'What's taking so long, Sub Commander? You should have destroyed that puny vessel minutes ago.'  
  
'It is proving. most difficult' said Yanek, the tactical officer through gritted teeth as another of his shots missed its target.  
  
'It should be like swatting a Ktarian fruit fly!' roared Verek as he rose from his chair.  
  
'I am doing my best, Commander!' retorted Yanek.  
  
Verek refrained from commenting that his best simply wasn't good enough.  
  
Remarks like that are nothing but counter-productive, he thought as he regained his composure and returned to his chair. The deck plating beneath his feet shivered again as the pesky little Federation ship proved as troublesome as he thought it might.  
  
'Yanek, switch to manual targeting if you think it will serve any better.'  
  
The Sub Commander sneered but said coolly, 'Yes, sir.' - Right, thought Forbes, I've got to get in between their primary hulls.  
  
'Computer, divert power from life support to thrusters.'  
  
'Acknowledged. Five minutes of life support remaining.'  
  
I hope that's all I'll need.  
  
Again her hands flew over the control with amazing grace and ease as she tapped in the command to rapidly increase and decrease speed as she slowly, but steadily, made her way inside the structure of the warbird. 'Computer, prepare to eject the warp core.'  
  
'Warni-  
  
'Override! Prepare to eject the core on my mark.  
  
'3.  
  
'2.  
  
'1.  
  
'MARK!'  
  
The sound of the core being jettisoned into the lower hull of the warbird boomed through the deck plating of Forbes' Ulysses. Her hands went into overdrive again, urging her fighter forward through the front of the warbird. - Verek screamed in anguish as he saw the tiny fighter launch what looked remarkably like a miniature warp core from between his warbird's hulls. He threw his balled fist down on the console to his right, shattering it completely.  
  
'Get us out of its blast radius!' he screamed to the helmsman, who was already attempting to manoeuvre away.  
  
'Commander. look.' Said Yanek, a distinct tone of utter despair filling his voice. The unmistakable orange beam of a Federation phaser arced towards them from the aft section of the fighter that was now moving away from his ship. He wasn't surprised to see that it completely missed the Storm Petrel; it was not, after all, meant to hit him. His lips curled up in to a grim smile as he thought well fought, Starfleet. -  
  
Forbes let out an enormous sigh of relief, and tears welled in the corners of her eyes with joy as an intense white light engulfed her. When the light faded, she found herself sitting in the middle of the holodeck, with her tactical strategy teacher, Commander Natasha Barinsky trotting over to her with a look of equal delight on her face.  
  
'That was magnificent, cadet! I never thought anyone would pass the Kobayashi Maru without. well, cheating! Congratulations, cadet.'  
  
Forbes thanked Barinsky and dusted herself off before heading for the holodeck door to meet her classmates, still wearing that overwhelmed beam. 


End file.
